Gallery of Fairies
by MortalitasBorealis
Summary: What started as an investigation for missing persons quickly spirals out of control. Now Natsu, Lucy, Wendy and two talking cats must escape the otherworldly gallery of Guertena, facing off against lethal puzzles, living art both hostile and otherwise, and a girl driven mad by loneliness who will do anything to take her second chance at freedom...
1. Fabricated World

**Author's Note: I know Ib is an old game by now, but having seen another Fairy Tail x Ib crossover that discontinued like 3 years ago when it barely just started, it got me thinking, and this random little fruit of spontaneity is the result.**

 **A few disclaimers beforehand. First, it's been a while since I've watched/read Fairy Tail, so while I do have a general gist of the characters' powers and personalities, I may make some pretty bad lore mistakes or fail to make appropriate references. Do tell me if I make a character act too OOC. Second, consider this a slight AU from the canon Ib setting, there will be minor modifications to the "rules" to adapt it to what I have in mind, but the basics are the same. Third, I don't know what the demand for this concept will be, and I do have several other more invested writing projects to work on, so don't expect too frequent updates and don't be afraid to comment/favorite/follow to show you want more! Finally, the generic disclaimer, I do not own any of these characters and they belong to their respective creators.**

 **With all that out of the way, let us begin!**

* * *

The young man stared intensely at the sculpture, slowly tilting his head to get a different angle as if that would give him some sort of epiphany, but alas, nothing came to him. "…I don't get it. What is this thing?"

"Uhh… I'm not sure, but I bet there's some kind of hidden meaning behind it!" His blonde female companion replied with certainty and tried to decipher the secret of the sculpture, a finger on her lower lip. "Hmm, let's see… It's called _Wariness_ , so the pink ball might symbolize… Uhh… A heart? It could be trying to say that if you're not wary of others, you'll end up getting hurt! Or maybe it's something else…"

"Lucy, I'm pretty sure that's just a ball with knives stabbed in it." The blue cat peeking out from the girl's bag spoke up.

"Shh, not so loud, you're not actually allowed in here, remember?"

"Happy's right though, it just looks like someone sculpted a giant ball and thought it'd make a nice knife rack, which it doesn't if you ask me." The young man agreed with his feline friend, crossing his arms and still staring at the sculpture with a focused expression. Lucy just shook her head at her companions' lack of culture with a smug grin.

"Like you two'd know anything about art, Natsu. Not everything is just what meets the eye!"

"Oh yeah? Then what does that wind chime-lookin' thing over there mean, Miss I-am-so-cultured-because-I-write-stuff?" The boy referred to as Natsu challenged his friend and pointed at the next display, which looked like some kind of giant three-branched wind chime with the colors of the rainbow; upon closer look, the title of which was "Taste-Cleansing Tree".

With confidence written all over her face, Lucy stared at the "Tree". And stared. And stared some more.

"Lucy?"

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of her forehead.

"Lucy, just admit it's just a wind chime-lookin' thing."

"W-Well, I didn't say ALL artworks have deeper meanings, some don't need them and are just made to look pretty! In fact, being _aesthetically pleasing_ is just as important if not more so than some up-for-interpretation message! Ah, we've barely been here ten minutes and I'm already feeling more refined~"

"So would you say that this tree cleansed your taste in art?" The innocent yet somehow mocking voice coming from her bag made the blonde's lower eyelid twitch.

"Shush, you damn cat…" She grumbled and sighed, "Anyway, we should probably go back to investigating, we're not getting paid just to look at exhibits! Ah, if only…"

Indeed, the two mages from Fairy Tail (three, if you count the cat) weren't at the art gallery just to relax. The unofficially named Team Natsu had taken on a request to investigate a series of missing person cases that's been happening there recently; in particular, ever since the Guertena exhibit was put up. There had been many rumors about the reclusive artist Guertena Weiss, most prominently rumors that he managed to create living art, not just magical manifestations like those created with Pict Magic, but self-sustained beings with their own souls. Despite the lack of solid proof, every time his works were displayed somewhere, there would always be a few visitors or night guards who'd make claims of supernatural activity, hearing a cough or a meow where there's no one else around, seeing a painting blink or change expressions, etc. Now that two people have actually gone missing though, one child and one night guard, the staff decided it's finally time to ask for help, a call that happened to be picked up by some of the strongest mages in all of Fiore.

Natsu Dragneel, also known as the Salamander, is the sole wielder of Fire Dragon Slayer Magic; slightly tanned skin hints at the nature of his power, and the short spiky pink hair on his head almost reminds one of flames. He wore his usual garb, a one-sleeved gold-trimmed black longcoat that exposes the arm with his guild tattoo, secured around the waist by a leather brown belt, plus white knee-length trousers with black ribbon ties, a thick black wristband on his left wrist, black open-toed sandals, and of course the white scale-patterned scarf he received from his adoptive father, Igneel, who happened to be an actual dragon.

His female companion, Lucy Heartfilia, princess of one of the wealthiest families in all of Fiore (though she's run away to become a mage), utilizes Celestial Spirit Magic, the ability to summon powerful familiars from another realm to assist in all manner of tasks. Her long blonde hair does give off the appearance of a noble, though her choices of fashion is anything but. A blue waistcoat with detached sleeves over a v-collared white tube top with a blue heart-shaped design in the middle, practically designed to show off her large bust (which she's very proud of), all of which are gold-trimmed like Natsu's coat, as well as a black mini-skirt and black leggings leading down to, surprisingly, brown boots that are actually practical for adventuring and fighting. Some sort of studded cylinder with a star-shaped pendant is secured onto a white belt, as well as a satchel in which she keeps her celestial keys (which she needs for her magic).

Finally, the team mascot hiding inside of Lucy's bag because of a no-pet policy in the gallery, Happy the cat, or more accurately, the cat-like species known as Exceed. A blue feline of cartoonish proportions, he can speak like humans as well as summon a pair of wings, even capable of using magic for highly accelerated flight. As a cat, he finds no need to wear anything other than a green neckerchief.

These three are not the only members of Team Natsu, but the strongest among them (though Natsu would never admit it), _Titania_ Erza Scarlet, left to go hunt some kind of giant monster terrorizing a nearby town, and Gray Fullbuster the ice mage got dragged off by Juvia for a date he promised her offhand to get her off his back at one point some time ago, pity the poor fool. The two remaining members who did join Natsu and Lucy on this job were currently on the other side of the gallery, admiring a beautiful sculpture of a red rose.

"It's so beautiful, isn't it? I wish I could make something like that…" Wendy Marvell marveled in wonder at the work of art. The youngest member of Team Natsu at only 12, not counting the cat, the innocent and harmless-looking girl is also known as the Sky Sorceress, sole wielder of the powerful Sky Dragon Slayer Magic that has blasting people with hurricanes as one of its more mundane uses. Her long sapphire-blue hair is tied up in twintails by two red animal ear-like hairpieces, while two side bangs still hang down on each side of her face, and her clothes consist of a red and white long-sleeved top somewhat resembling a prestigious school uniform with an orange ascot around her neck, plus a black frilled skirt with a small white trim running around right above the end. Black thigh high socks and gray open-toed sandals complete the look.

"We're on a mission, Wendy, focus on the work at hand!" A female voice came from her backpack, one belonging to another talking cat, Carla. Of the same species as Happy, Carla has white fur instead of blue, as well as smaller more feminine eyes. Also unlike her male counterpart, she does bother to wear clothes, a uniform similar to Wendy's own but blue and with a red tie instead, plus a red ribbon wrapped around her tail. Like Happy though, she can grow wings and fly with them when she wants to.

"S-Sorry…" The timid girl apologized to her ever serious partner before cheering back up. "Still, Guertena was such an amazing artist! It's such a shame a lot of his works have been lost to time…"

"Hmph, some of it's good, the rest are just weird." The feline remarked, unimpressed, "More importantly, have you found any clues yet?"

"No… I'm not even sure what to look for…"

"Any shady individuals, for example? Leftover belongings from missing people? Or just anything strange in general? The receptionist did say that the paintings might have something to do with it, but I think it's just dumb rumors. If there's any truth to these 'living paintings' then there should be proof by now."

"Hmm…" sighed Wendy. Exploring the gallery was fun, but their investigation is really going nowhere. "Maybe we should meet back up with Natsu and Lucy first and discuss what to do next…"

"Fair enough. Let's go."

* * *

"Ah, there you are! Did you guys find anything?"

The pink-haired young man shrugs at the petite girl jogging up to him. "Nope, nothing out of the ordinary, unless you count melting blue people and headless mannequins."

"M-Melting blue people?!"

"He means one of the statues we saw." Lucy clarified when the Sky Sorceress gasped in horror, "But yeah, we couldn't find any clues. You?" The blonde asked, but Wendy shook her head sadly. "Hmm… Looks like it's time to rethink our strategy then..."

"…Fabricated World…"

"What was that, Natsu?" The blonde snapped out of her thoughts to look at her friend, who's currently staring at the giant mural they've stopped next to.

"That's what this thing's called. I can barely even tell what it's a painting of, it looks like a bunch of five year olds went to town with a paintbrush!" The Salamander remarked unimpressed, causing Lucy to shake her head dramatically again.

"It's called Impressionism, you pleb. It's meant to be vague and chaotic instead of realistic, creating a dream-like image. Anyway, let's-" Just then, the lights flickered, cutting her off. "…Ooookay, that just happened. Anyway, as I was saying, let's-"

"Wait, something's wrong."

"Huh? What is it, Carla?" asked Wendy as her feline partner popped out of her backpack and gestured for everyone to stay quiet, so they did… and the world was just as quiet. Gradually, Wendy came to the same realization as her peers: "…What happened to everyone else? I can't even hear any footsteps…" She noted, her own voice barely a whisper, and it was a very alarming discovery as those who wield Dragon Slayer magic have enhanced senses, including hearing. For her to say she can't hear anyone else in the gallery when moments ago there were a half dozen visitors right nearby… Lucy looked towards Natsu, who looked fully alert and shook his head to confirm what his fellow Dragon Slayer said.

"W-Well… It shouldn't even be near closing time yet, but let's go back to the entrance. Maybe something's happened outside." The blonde suggested, looking nervous herself, and with no better calls of action the investigation team headed through the gallery back for the entrance, sure enough finding not a single person along the way. Soon as they descended the stairs down to the main lobby, the lights flickered again and outright shut off this time, leaving them in the darkness only lit by dim light from the windows. Before they even reached the doors themselves, they could already tell something's horribly wrong.

"Hey, the weather forecast didn't say anything about heavy fog, did it?" Natsu remarked while the group's urgent footsteps slowed to a halt. Beyond the glass doors that once led to the bustling streets of Magnolia, there is now nothing but a sea of white fog. Without another word, Lucy ran up to the doors and tried to pull them open, but they didn't even budge an inch. Even with help from the two strength-enhanced Dragon Slayers and the Exceed, the entrance remains firmly shut.

After a few tries, the team finally gives up and backs away. "What's going on? There's no way a gallery door can be THIS strong, not without a magical seal! And what happened to the outside? Is something attacking the city?"

"Guess we're gonna find out! Stand back, I'm getting this thing open the FUN way!" Natsu called out with a sneer and charged at the doors again before anyone could protest, fist raised; half-way there though, the Salamander suddenly looked at his fist in surprise and ended up faceplanting straight into the doors (which still didn't budge).

The blonde raised an eyebrow while Happy and Wendy hurried over to check that he's okay. "Uhh… Do I even want to ask?" Lucy looked at the young man confused, but Natsu's attention was on his own fist rather than the slight pain on his face. "…Natsu? What's wrong?"

"My fire magic. I can't use it."

"…What?"

"Like I said, I can't use my fire magic! I'm trying but it's not working!" The Salamander's expression grew increasingly frustrated as he tried again and again to summon his flames, but nothing happens. Fearing the same has happened to herself, Wendy gulped and faced the door.

"L-Let me try! _Sky Dragon's Roar_!" The Sky Sorceress took a deep breath and blew, sending a hurricane blast straight at the door, only for the gale force winds to bounce right off the glass and spread away. "It… It worked?" She blinked in the aftermath, not expecting her own magic to work herself, even if it didn't do anything to the doors anyway.

"Our wings are working too!" Happy announced, pointing out both his and Carla's wings that require magic to be summoned and flown around with.

Thinking to herself for a bit, Lucy attempts her own magic as well. The Celestial Spirit Mage fished a key from her satchel and flourished it: " _Open, Gate of Taurus!_ " she commanded and stabbed the key into the air, turning it as if opening an invisible lock.

Nothing happened.

"Hey what the hell, why aren't my keys working?"

"If we can use our wings and Wendy can use her magic, then it's not like magic is universally sealed here. Something is selectively blocking off your magic only, though for what reason I don't know." The white-furred Exceed deduced.

Lucy sighed in disappointment before remembering how potentially dangerous their current situation could be. "…Alright, let's calm down and think this through. Right now we're trapped inside the gallery with no one else around, the building's magically sealed so we can't get out, and both Natsu's and my own magic are blocked by something. What to do…"

"I'd say first thing's finding a way outta this place, right?"

"That's obvious, but how-"

" **EEEEEEEEKKKK!** "

"WENDY!" Both Natsu and Lucy turned towards the scream at the same time; Wendy was sitting on the ground like she'd fallen over, staring up at the nearest window with wide teary eyes while Carla was trying her best to comfort her. Something was dripping down the glass from the outside…

"I-Is… Is that blood?!" The Celestial Mage recoiled as well, while the bolder Natsu approached the window instead, inspecting the "blood" through the glass.

"Natsu, I don't think you should get so close-"

"This doesn't look like blood." The Salamander interrupted his cat, causing everyone to look at him, "The hue's too bright, and the viscosity… I think it's paint."

The revelation caused everyone else to collectively breathe a sigh of relief. "Paint, huh. Phew, I was getting really worried there…" Lucy remarked as she helped poor Wendy up, "Wait, how do you know so much about blood?"

"We've been in tons of brutal fights by now, I think we'd all know what blood looks like."

"Not to that kind of detail…" The Celestial Mage sighed, though considering the Dragon Slayer's heightened senses it's not that weird. "Back on topic, for now all we can do is find a different way out of here. Let's split up again and search, Natsu, Happy and I will go back upstairs, while Wendy and Carla look down here. If that's paint then this could all just be some kind of sick joke by someone, but still, be careful. If anything happens, shout and we'll come running. Sound good?" The others nodded with lack of a better plan and split up into their respective teams, setting off to investigate the abandoned gallery.

* * *

The halls were eerily silent, save for their footsteps. Lucy couldn't help but shiver as she looked around at the murky gallery, the distance cloaked in darkness. Without anything more than the pale light from the windows to show the way, a hand reached down to grab the cylinder at her belt and activate it, causing a stream of glowing water to erupt from one end, lines of golden energy sparkling at regular intervals. Despite its liquid nature, the water remains self-contained like a solid rope and even curls back into itself. The Fleuve D'etoiles, literally River of Stars, is a magical whip gifted to her by one of her contracted spirits; while normally a weapon, it'll make a good enough light source for now.

"You really think this is a prank?" Natsu asked while checking the paintings for hidden buttons behind them, not that any of the frames were even removable from the wall.

Lucy just shrugged. "I dunno what else it could be. What, you have a different idea?"

"Nope."

The Celestial Mage sighed. All this being some kind of super elaborate prank sounded unbelievable even to herself, but what else could be happening? Unless… No, it can't be, that's just superstition- "Huh?"

"Found something?" Natsu looked back at his companion and followed her gaze to the nearby window, half expecting more red paint, but there's nothing there.

"I… I think I just saw someone walking past the window outside!"

The floating blue cat gave her a funny look, "Outside? But this is the first floor!", but Lucy shook her head and insisted.

"I know that but I'm not kidding! I seriously saw a silhouette walk by!" she said, and went over to said window, trying to peek out into the emptiness as best she could. "Hello? Is someone out there?" The young woman asked loudly and received no response for a few seconds, but then…

" **GYYAAHHH!** "

Both Lucy and Happy screamed and recoiled, forcing Natsu to race over and catch the girl before she fell over like Wendy earlier. Glaring at the window, the Salamander charged once more and threw his fist at the glass proper this time, but the punch once again bounces off harmlessly even with his enhanced strength. "GET BACK HERE, YOU BASTARD! LET US OUT, THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" He roared anyway, to no further response. What Lucy saw may have been a trick of the eye, but there's no mistaking the hand that just slammed at the glass from outside, nor the handprint it left behind.

"GUYS, ARE YOU OKAY?!" Wendy's voice wafted up from downstairs, to which Lucy shouted back reassurance.

"WE'RE FINE, DON'T WORRY! Happy, you okay?"

"Y-Yeah…" The feline answered even though he's still shaking. Lucy breathed out and returned to the window to inspect the handprint, prepared for any more surprises, though none came.

"…This is paint too, isn't it?" She asked and received a nod of confirmation. "If the staff wanted to make this a secret haunted house, then they did a really good job. Now that I think about it, the job might just be a ruse to lure someone not faint of heart to test their new attraction, huh. That's what I'm hoping for anyway…"

"Whatever this is, I'm gonna give the mastermind one fiery knuckle sandwich when we're through with this!" the Salamander growled, and the trio returned to their search.

* * *

*Cough*

The Sky Sorceress and her Exceed friend spun around, but there's no one there in the dark and silent hallway.

"…Carla… W-Was that you…?"

"I wish…" The flying cat mumbled before calling out more loudly, "Whoever you are, come out already! This joke has gone on for long enough and we want no part of it!"

No response.

Hesitantly, the two walked over to where they heard the cough and inspected the area for anything that could've been left behind by whoever it was that made that cough. When Wendy looked at the painting on the wall though…

"U-Uhh… C-Carla? You might want to l-look at this…"

So the Exceed did and read the title plaque.

' _The Coughing Man_ '.

"…Carla? Those rumors… Could they…?"

"…This has to be a sick joke. Let's keep going."

* * *

"This is getting weirder and weirder." Lucy shook her head. They had just witnessed an orange fall out of a painting of fruits, and they're 99% sure that picture of a black cat meowed at them. The Celestial Mage isn't sure what else could be waiting for them in this gallery-turned-haunted-house. Their search for a hidden contraption or exit had also been fruitless so far, and now they've ended up in front of the Fabricated World mural again. Happy was quick to point out a change that had occurred since the last time they were there:

"Hey, the painting's leaking something!"

Sure enough, a splotch of blue paint is dripping from the bottom of the frame. Just as Lucy cautiously peered closer to examine it, Happy screamed and even Natsu jumped while the sound of paint splashes could be heard on the ground. Lucy spun around to look, and her eyes widened in surprise. Written in big red letters on the ground was a word:

C O M E

Before anyone could say a word, Lucy heard some kind of scribbling noise behind her and slowly, almost reluctantly, turned back around to look at the blue splotch. Except it wasn't just a splash of blue paint anymore, but words.

"Come down below, friends. I'll show you someplace secret." She recited, just as Wendy's voice came from downstairs again, as did Carla's, only this time it wasn't directed at them.

"W-WAIT, SIR! COME BACK!"

"WENDY, WAIT! DON'T GO ALONE!"

The trio looked at each other and raced for the stairs, but when they got down to the main lobby where their friends' shouts came from, there was no one.

"WENDY! CARLA!" Lucy's voice echoed through the gallery to no avail. The Fire Dragon Slayer also strained his ears to listen…

"…No footsteps, nothing. It's like they disappeared too…" He shook his head, worrying for what had happened to the two. Lucy tried to stay optimistic.

"Let's not panic… Who knows, maybe they found an exit? It sounded like Wendy saw someone and followed them, maybe it's whoever trapped us in here? Let's look around down here some more, they can't have just vanished into thin air, there has to be a secret door somewhere…" The young woman suggested, even though she didn't sound too sure of herself, so the crew searched every nook and cranny of the lobby, the receptionist's desk, the guest book, the poster, the walls, the windows, the entrance… then moving on to the rest of the gallery's ground floor. Soon as they left the lobby, it didn't take long to find something.

In the first room was one of Guertena's most famous works, the 'Abyss of the Deep', a thin and irregular canvas painted to resemble the depths of the oceans, along with the head of a deep sea monster poking in from the side, like a cross between a moray eel and an angler fish, teeth-lined maw open in a leering grin. The way it's placed on the floor with no frame, the painting looked like an actual abyss which someone could fall into, the beast patiently waiting for its next meal, daring its prey to come closer… But that wasn't what's most notable to the mages right now. What caught their eye was the part of the surrounding railing that was missing, and the two blue shoeprints leading into the canvas.

Natsu was the first to approach their discovery this time, kneeling down to inspect the prints, then, almost on a whim, poked the mural with a finger. It passed right through the surface as if it was water. It even felt like water…

"Whoah…" Lucy watched with her mouth agape as Natsu proceeded to shove his entire hand into the "water", then… "Gah! Natsu what are you doing?!" The young woman exclaimed shortly before Natsu yanked his head back out of the painting with a splashing sound, but without a single drop of water on himself.

"Huh, I could breathe just fine in there. More importantly I think I saw something way at the bottom, I bet it's the exit!" He excitedly announced, and Lucy tried it for herself, kneeling down and sticking her head into the canvas. The water felt cool to the touch, and sure enough, she could breathe in it and see some kind of light at the very bottom of the abyss. She could also see the sea serpent in all its entirety, a humongous beast that made her shudder, but it was still like a statue. She pulled herself back out, touching her hair that didn't have a drop of water on it.

"You might be right, Natsu, nice work! Maybe Wendy came through here too! Alright then, you guys ready?"

"Uhh, I don't do well with water… or giant sea serpents…" said the cat, but Natsu was quick to reassure him that he'll be fine, the Salamander's usual cocky grin back on his face. Lucy felt a lot better too, now that they found the hidden exit. Once they get out of this dumb (but admittedly well done) prank, she's going to buy herself a nice big parfait to relax with, she's earned it.

On the count of three, the two mages and one cat jumped into the abyss together…

* * *

Scribble, scribble, scribble… urgh.

She looked down at her just-finished drawing disapprovingly. So many years and she's barely improved. If only father was still here to teach her how to draw like him… Not that it matters, there's no one around to look anyway. Well, there's the dollies, but they're very easily impressed… and the busts, but they never even emote other than cry sometimes… and the mannequins, but they don't have eyes to see with… and her big sisters who don't have any of those problems, but lately she's been wondering if they're praising her just to make her feel better. It's not like she herself minded her own art skills originally, but since those two came and left… She wanted something to remember them by. She wanted to paint them, to replicate them on canvas so they'd stay with her forever, in a way, but she's just not good enough… Ah well, she has an eternity to practice afterall…

How long has it been anyway? Months? Years? It felt like an eternity ago, but she remembered it like it was yesterday. They had gotten along so well… Then he found out the truth. Red Eyes should've gotten him, but he escaped. Then he was chosen over her… Why? She gritted her teeth. She thought they were friends… No, they were friends, but Ib still chose him over her. Why? What did he have that she didn't? Was it because he's human? Was it because they've met each other for longer? Was it love that trumped their friendship? What was it? Why? WHY?! WHY **WHY** _ **WHY**_ _ **W**_ _H_ **Y** W _ **H**_ _Y_ -

She froze. Something's changed.

The gallery has a life of its own. It adapts to outsiders, changes. She learnt this when they first came, and it was minor back then, a few new paintings that formed from their essence (they've vanished since they left…), the puzzles and doors resetting. This time though, it was far more drastic. Something fundamental had just changed about… everything, even herself. She felt a power within like never before… but more importantly, this change meant one thing.

 _A second chance._

She got up and smiled.

This time, she WILL succeed.


	2. Embodiment of Spirit

"I told you not to go off on your own!"

"I-I'm sorry…" Wendy slumped dejectedly while her feline companion told her off. Oooh, she messed up really bad…

Upon hearing a scraping sound so faint it could've been just a product of paranoia, the two of them had returned to the lobby to investigate just in case; to their surprise, a stairway had opened up in the wall, and Wendy spotted the silhouette of a leg disappearing around the corner at the very bottom. Perhaps foolishly, the young girl attempted to rush after who may have been the culprit, only to fall straight into a trap. Not only did the mystery person seemingly disappear into thin air, but the wall has closed up behind them, and not even the power of a Dragon Slayer can break it back open. They've been shouting out for help for a few minutes to no response too, either something's happened to the others, or their cries can't get through the wall.

"Apologizing's not enough! Be more careful next time!" Carla huffed, clearly annoyed, but she has to stay calm for now. Both of them need to, and the last thing either of them needs is for Wendy to start beating herself up too much over an honest mistake. "What's done is done though, let's just focus on looking for a way out."

Wendy nodded, and the Exceed noticed the little beads of tears at the corners of her eyes.

"…Don't blame yourself too much over it, we're all on edge, it's understandable."

The girl merely nodded again, not an ounce of shame leaving her face, as the two headed back down the stairs again to inspect the room they had led to. It was a dead end, a small eerie room with pitch black walls and drab gray carpeting, the only thing present was a small desk with a vase on it, within which was placed two roses of vibrant color. With little else to inspect, the two hesitantly took one each, Wendy the one sapphire blue like her hair, Carla the one pinkish-white like her fur. The moment they did so, a part of the wall soundlessly swung open like a door, revealing another room beyond the dead end.

"That was easy." Carla remarked, though she still eyed the new path with suspicion.

"Could this be another trap…?"

"Might be, but there's nowhere else to go. Be on your guard, Wendy, and hold onto your rose for now, I think they might be important." The Exceed looked at her own rose again, and the two carefully crossed into the next room.

The next chamber was larger and branched off into two paths. The first thing both of them noticed was the pane of glass next to the door through which they could look back into the room they were just in.

"A one-way mirror, blended in with the wall perfectly on the other end…"

"Wait, this means… W-Were we being watched that whole time?" Wendy shuddered at the very thought and started looking around in paranoia, wondering if there were any more of these mirrors through which someone's spying on them right now. Despite being better composed, the Exceed also shivered as she gave their surroundings a quick glance.

"Probably… Ugh, when I get my hands on that creep…!" Carla gritted her teeth in frustration, then looked back at the one-way mirror. "…Wendy, could you try breaking the glass?"

"I don't think it'll work, but I'll try…" The mage looked hesitantly at the mirror. The door and walls hadn't budged at all, she's almost certain everything was reinforced with really powerful magic, so the mirror shouldn't even get cracked neither. Still, no harm in trying, right? She stood back and took a deep breath. "Sky Dragon's Roar!"

A horizontal tornado burst from her mouth and smashed straight into the glass.

*Crash*

"I-It worked?!" Wendy exclaimed in shock at the sound of glass shattering, but one look showed that the glass was still entirely intact, not even a scratch. Upon further thinking, she realized the sound had come from her left, and went to investigate; what she found on the floor was a painting lying among shards of broken glass. It had originally been tucked away in an alcove, but something had knocked it down from the wall, even shattering the protective glass casing. "Oh dear… Did I do this?" The mage pondered aloud with a bit of guilt, lifting the frame and revealing the face and upper body of a beautiful woman dressed in blue painted on the canvas.

"Maybe? The roar's impact could've reached it, but I don't think it would've been enough to break the glass from there…" Carla said, looking at the remains of the casing suspiciously, "What kind of sense does this even make anyway? A direct hit couldn't crack a window, but the casing meant to protect the paintings broke that easily?"

The Dragon Slayer didn't have an answer to that, so she simply hanged the frame back on the wall where it belonged, carefully dusting off a few shards of broken glass from the canvas. "Sorry…" She apologized to the painting by reflex. Guertena truly was an amazing artist, she thought to herself, the painted woman felt so real… Especially the eyes, which looked like they were staring at her, serene yet with a sense of malice hidden beneath, almost like the woman's actually upset with her, but that's probably just her own imagination running wild. The same could be said of that smile, seemingly amicable, but with sinister undertones, as if the woman's secretly plotting revenge. Actually, the more she looked at the painting, the more nervous she felt… Wendy checked to make sure the frame was secured properly, then turned away from it and breathed a sigh of relief just from not having to look anymore. "There we go… Looks like the only thing this way was this painting, so let's go the other way then?"

"Mhmm, let's g- **BEHIND YOU**!" The Exceed cried out in warning, but Wendy had already reacted soon as she saw her friend's face contort in terror while pointing past her. The young mage spun around just in time to see and evade the swiping claw of the painted woman, sinister smile now a full-blown psychotic grin as she leaned straight out of the canvas to attack with her razor sharp nails; while Wendy herself narrowly avoided the strike, a finger just barely scratched the sapphire blue rose she still held in her hand, clawing off a single petal. At the same time, the Dragon Slayer winced and grunted in pain as a small bloody gash appeared on her cheek, a wound she barely had time to notice before the painted woman pushed herself off the wall once more, lunging at her prey.

Amidst the crisis, the usually timid Dragon Slayer had to cast aside her shyness to protect her much more fragile comrade. "Carla, run for the right end! I'll follow you!" She yelled soon as she dived out of the way and turned towards the demented painting that's now crawling rapidly at her. Only the woman's upper body emerged into the 3D world from the canvas, the frame and pitch black canvas attached to her waist and dragged along behind her, but Wendy didn't care to examine the sudden attacker for long. With another deep breath, another Sky Dragon's Roar launched the painted woman back into a wall, and the young mage took the chance to run for the other end of the room where Carla was already waiting at another door, holding it open for her. There were two signs on either side of the exit, but Wendy didn't give them more than a glance before sprinting through the doorway which the cat slammed shut after her. A small click signified the door locking behind them.

The adrenaline leaving her system once they felt sure the painted woman couldn't chase them anymore, Wendy slumped to the ground, tired and disoriented from what just occurred. "What… W-What was that just now?!" She asked in a frightened whisper, "Did that painting really come to life and tried to kill us?!"

"Unless we're both hallucinating, yeah…" Carla steadied her breathing, looked at her friend and noticed the wound. "Wendy, you're hurt!"

"It's nothing…" The Dragon Slayer gingerly touched the shallow gash on her cheek and winced, "I don't remember getting scratched though…"

"Then how did you get hurt?"

"I don't know, it just appeared when that painting lady attacked, but she didn't hit me, I'm sure of it!" Wendy insisted, certain that the claw didn't reach her, nor did that swipe send a shockwave at her or the like, she'd have sensed the disturbance in the air. So how did the lady in blue hit? What did she…

"Hmm? Did you realize something? …The rose? What- WENDY!"

"Urgh…! That hurt even more this time…" The sapphire-haired mage looked down at the bloody gash over her navel this time, rose in one hand, petal in the other. "This confirms it at least…" She continued rather impassionately, while her companion didn't share her calmness.

"What the hell was that?! If you knew it'd hurt you then why would you do that again?!"

"I wanted to make sure it wasn't a coincidence…"

"Then you should've test it on ME! You can heal me back, you can't heal yourself!"

"You're… you're right… B-But I could never get myself to hurt you no matter what anyway! My rose has more petals than yours too, even with this I still have 8, I'll be fine…"

"It's not about how many petals you can lose before god knows what happens!" Carla facepalmed in frustration, "Look at yourself! You practically just sliced yourself! On top of that, we're still in potentially hostile territory with no idea what's going on! You maiming yourself is the last thing we need right now!"

"…Y-Yeah… Sorry…" The gloom retook Wendy as the stupidity of her actions started to set in.

"Are you even in your right mind right now?"

"I… honestly think I might not be…" She admitted, to Carla's mild surprise, "This… This is just all so absurd! We're trapped in this… _haunted_ gallery all of a sudden, a painting just tried to kill us, and then these roses… I even got us separated from Natsu and Lucy… I don't know what to do, I don't know what to think anymore…"

There was a moment of silence while Wendy huddled into a ball, hugging her knees to her chest, and Carla averted her gaze, realizing she hadn't been very considerate of her friend's mental state neither. Even if Wendy's a Dragon Slayer mage who's helped defeat the Oracion Seis and came back from Edolas, she's still a kid, and these circumstances would be both bizarre and scary for just about anyone, much less a child. It's only natural for her to get caught up in the moment and make mistakes.

Finally, the white feline patted Wendy on the shoulder reassuringly and sat down beside her. "It's okay, you're not the only one getting overwhelmed by all this, I'm stressed out as well. Let's just rest here for a bit and cool our heads, okay? This place looks safe enough." She said while checking their surroundings. The two of them had escaped into a small hallway, painted orange and brown rather than the disconcerting pitch black earlier. Another orange door stood at the end of the corridor, and before it hung two large paintings on the wall, one of a hand reaching out from behind two curtains, labeled "Concealed Secret", and the other a swirl of colors with what she thinks is the stalk of a rose in the middle, named "Déjà vu". She'll have to keep an eye on the two paintings, but other than that it looked like a safe place to rest.

At her friend's encouragement, Wendy at least loosened up a little and sighed softly.

"Yeah, let's rest a bit… and thanks, Carla…" … "…Do you think Natsu and Lucy are doing okay?"

"I'm sure they can handle themselves. Happy too."

* * *

"Someone wake me up from this nightmare…" The celestial mage slumped against the wall and slid down until her rear hit the floor. That hurt a little, but she tried to ignore it, just as she tried to ignore the light stinging from the diagonal cut over the bridge of her nose.

"I wouldn't call this a nightmare yet." The pink-haired dragonslayer shrugged, much to his companion's disagreement.

"Not a nightmare? Let's see, we're currently trapped in some spooky art gallery, we just dived down into a painting of an abyss, got chased down said abyss by a giant sea serpent-"

"I wouldn't call that chasing, the big guy just looked curious."

"…STALKED by a giant sea serpent, fell out of the abyss into another hallway, the way we came just vanished without a trace, we now have roses that are also voodoo dolls of us, a painting just made faces at us, and worst of all, I even have a huge cut on my face! Why?! Why my beautiful face?!"

"Lucy-"

"Don't look at me, I'm slightly less pretty!"

Natsu rolled his eyes while his teammate hid her face behind her hands, overreacting as usual, probably on purpose. "…Lucy, seriously, it's not that bad!"

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one with a bleeding cut on your face! Ooh this better not leave a scar…"

"You'll be good as new once we find Wendy, don't sweat it. Even if that does leave a scar I'm sure you'll still look great, knife scars are badass!"

"I don't want to look 'badass', I mean I wouldn't mind if I looked cool, but more than that I want to look cute! Scars are not cute! And since when were you so enthusiastic about this?"

"Eh, this whole thing took me by surprise, but now that I've had the time to think about it, this could actually be pretty fun! Sure beats boring detective work at least!"

Lucy met Natsu's wide grin with complete bemusement. "…Natsu, we're stuck in an unknown area where common logic doesn't exist, neither of our magic are working, Wendy and Carla are missing, and we have on our hands roses that can cut us just by pulling petals from them. How is this FUN?!"

"Oh come on, we get banged up worse during our weekly bar brawls!"

"YOU get banged up worse, I don't take part in that nonsense, and I'm pretty sure if that sign under Miss Creepy Painting is anything to go by, if these roses run out of petals we'll DIE."

"Uhh, yeah, that IS a downer." The Salamander admitted, scratching the back of his head while looking down at his own rose, a pink one of 15 petals. "We've been through worse though! What's a little magical gallery gonna do to us? Spook us until we get heart attacks?"

"Considering these roses even exist, I'm pretty sure this place is out for blood, whatever this place is."

"Actually, I've been thinking." A certain flying cat decided to join in on the conversation.

"Have you now? About what, food? …That is a concern, actually."

"Of course not! …Okay yes, but also something else. I was thinking, isn't this kind of like back in Edolas? When we couldn't use magic and the world just worked differently?"

"Now that you mention it… You mean we could be in a different world again? That might explain why I can't summon my celestial spirits, if this world is completely disconnected from the celestial plane, but why can't Natsu use his dragonslayer magic then while Wendy can? How did we even end up here?"

"I dunno, you always say you're the smart one, you figure it out." The cat shrugged and Lucy sighed, though the celestial mage did start thinking about it now that she's got a lead to work with. When was the moment they first entered this world? The most likely answer was the moment the lights flashed, that was when everyone else suddenly disappeared. They were also in front of a mural. What was it called?

"The Fabricated World."

"What?"

"That's the mural we were all in front of before everyone disappeared. Assuming we're in another world right now, wouldn't a painting called Fabricated World be the most likely trigger? This also explains the missing people, they were taken here too!"

"Huh, I guess that makes sense." Natsu sat down and reclined as well, figuring they'll be here talking for a while, "But then shouldn't there be a lot more missing people than two?"

"That just means the portal isn't always open, someone has to activate the trigger to bring people in, or it's completely random like a natural anomaly. Alright, let's lay out the questions. First off, who made this world?"

"I dunno anything about religion."

"Not like that, dummy. I feel like this isn't on the scale of Edolas or our own world, it's too… structured. It's more likely this place is a man-made pocket dimension, and whoever made it was probably also the one who dragged us in here, so who are they and what are they after?"

"Beats me. Guer what's-his-name I guess?"

"Guertena Weiss. But you're right, something like this shouldn't be doable in a fortnight, if someone made a world out of Guertena's art, it has to be Guertena himself. But then he couldn't have been the one to drag us in here, he's dead! Unless he somehow infused his own soul into his paintings… That's where the rumors came from, his paintings ARE alive! With his soul! This is AMAZING! Wait 'til the world hears about this discovery, I'm gonna be so rich and famous!"

"Yeah, good for you, so how do we get out of here?"

"Ah." The sparkles left Lucy's eyes, though the big grin was frozen there for a few seconds longer. "I… have no idea."

"Thanks Lucy, that was very helpful."

"Shaddup." Enthusiasm deflated like a popped balloon, the girl sighed. "I guess for now all we can do is keep going. Guertena or not, whoever took us here is also leading us somewhere." She said, looking down at the blue key resting on her palm. It had been the only thing inside the little room next to them, besides a large painting of a woman whose hair was dangling outside the frame and who made a funny face at them when they picked up the key, and a sign below with an ominous warning: When the rose wilts, so too will you wither away. "This key should open that door over there. It's all positioned so we have to take the roses before we can go anywhere." Her eyes looked up towards the blue door on the far side of the corridor, which they had tried and failed to open earlier. "I don't know where this path will take us, but hopefully we'll find an exit at the end, long as we survive. Like a game or test of some sort…"

Her own rose rested in her other hand, one of ten petals with a brilliant yellow hue. Nine petals now, after Natsu pulled one out to see if it's fake and caused the cut to magically appear across her face. She couldn't entirely blame him, the door was blocked by a desk that wouldn't move until they took the roses, so they couldn't see the warning. As if to taunt her, a second warning sign showed up outside the room _after_ they took the key, basically spelling out what the roses are. _You and the rose are unified. Know the weight of your own life._ Gee, thanks magical signs, would've been nice to know earlier. The celestial mage carefully deposited her rose inside her duffel bag and got on her feet. "Alright, time's a-wasting, let's go!"

* * *

 **Author's note: This is for you, nameless guest reviewer. I really was just gonna ditch this considering the complete lack in interest, but what the heck, I've seen many good fics before that were abandoned halfway or never took off, I don't want this to be one of them. Still don't expect fast updates though.**


	3. Stubborn Twins

Very, very carefully, Wendy closed the door and thanked the powers that be that the doors were well-oiled. While she could probably handle it if she had to, she'd prefer not waking that giant snake up in the first place.

"A dead end. At least this place looks safe." The white Exceed noted. Having gathered their wits a bit and moved on from the hallway, the two had emerged into a much larger gallery area with three floors… and a giant snake lounging right next to the door, leaning out from a canvas much like the madwoman that had attacked them earlier. Thankfully the beast was too busy sleeping to try eating them, but it also blocked up the corridor, so the two wayward visitors had to sneak along the other way upstairs if they wanted to go around it without risking waking it up.

The Sky Dragon Slayer sniffed the air once the door clicked quietly shut. "…Is that tea?"

"Yeah, I smell it too. Looks like it's coming from that painting." Carla said, pointing at one of the paintings on the wall. The room was a small hall with several small paintings hung on one side, very simple works that didn't even have names, so simple they may as well be one single piece of art together with their different colored frames. One of the paintings happened to be a cup of tea, with smoke continuously wafting off the surface and all the way out of the frame.

"Oh, so it is." Wendy blinked and walked over for a closer look, sniffing the air again. "Ahh… It smells so rich and fresh, just the smell alone is helping me relax. If only I could actually drink it…"

"Considering what we've seen so far, you probably could just reach in and take it. Wait, no, don't do that!" The cat silently cursed herself for that slip of the tongue as her human friend gave her a confused glance, a hand already poised to touch the painting. "It could be dangerous, so don't."

"Dangerous? But it's just a cup of tea?"

"And those are just roses." Carla pointed at the bag in which they decided to keep the roses, then at the cut on Wendy's belly for emphasis, "Who knows, it could be poisoned or something. We've already been attacked once and had our bodies bound to these flowers, this place and everything in it can't be trusted."

Unable to argue with that logic, Wendy sighed with disappointment and retracted her hand. "You're right, sorry… Is there anything else in this room then?" She pondered, and the two checked the room and its paintings once more. Red balls, an open book with the words 'Everyone goes to sleep at night' alongside scribbly lines for text, a shark's head, the cup of tea, and finally what looked like a hole in a dirt ground.

"…If they're supposed to mean something then I don't get it yet. Let's keep going for now."

"Okay." Wendy nodded, and the two left the side room and headed up the next flight of steps to the top level. Turning the corner though, they found their path interrupted by a missing segment in the floor; looking down into the hole, all they could see was pitch darkness...

"Huh. Good thing I can fly, and you can just jump over. Let's keep going- Wendy, what're you looking at?" The flying Exceed looked back at her partner, who had switched from looking into the chasm to looking at something else on the floor.

"…I found an ant."

Carla blinked and furrowed her brow. "…An ant? That's what you're… Ugh, leave it, let's just go already."

"But it's bright white!" Wendy argued, still staring at the little insect which had stopped scuttling about to look back at the human. "I just feel like it's special somehow… Umm… Hello? Mr. Ant?"

The flying cat facepalmed and sighed. Really? They're trapped in some twisted art gallery and the kid's wasting time chatting with an-

"Hello, human."

The little chittery voice cut off her thoughts. W-Who said that? No way, it couldn't be…

"O-Oh, you really can talk!" The young Dragon Slayer blinked and widened her eyes in surprise, but was much less shocked than her feline friend and actually overjoyed that her hunch was right. "Umm, hello, do you live here, Mr. Ant?"

"No. I don't know where my home is. I wanna go home." The ant replied.

"Aww, you poor thing! Don't worry, we'll help you!"

"Wendy, we don't have time for this! We have to find our way out of here and regroup with the others, remember?" Carla argued, still a little annoyed she was wrong about the ant, but the girl was insistent.

"What if he can help us though? That door wouldn't open until we took the roses, maybe this is something we have to play along with too?" Wendy countered, leaving Carla with few things to retort with. "Plus, I really want to help him find his way home…"

"…Fine, you were right that it's special, maybe you're right about this too." The Exceed conceded. "Let's see then, an ant's home should be an anthill, right? That'd probably be a painting somewhere. If we find a picture of an anthill we'll bring it back, o- Wait, that one of the hole in the ground. Was that…?"

"Yeah, that must've been an anthill! Quick thinking, Carla! Let's go get it!" Wendy cheered, and soon the two returned to the ant with the painting in tow. "Mr. Ant, is this your home?"

"Oh, there's my home. Put it down for me over there, over the hole." The little white bug confirmed, and Wendy did as asked, bridging the gap with the canvas. "Thank you. There's a way home now. I'll go home then."

The two watched as the white dot crawled over the coffee-colored floor and onto the painting, disappearing into the anthill, and waited. And waited.

"…Well that did absolutely nothing for us." Carla scoffed in annoyance. Wendy herself was a little disappointed, but nowhere near as upset.

"It was still a good deed, so it's not that bad… Let's keep going."

Jumping/flying over the anthill and chasm, the two quickly came across another branching path; to their right is an orange door, and the only things between it and them were two giant rose sculptures, one pink one blue, swaying back and forth to the sides.

"The Stubborn Twins…" Wendy read aloud the nameplate. "Heh, they look kind of silly waving about like that. I think there's just enough room for me to squeeze past to the door, let me see…"

"Be careful, Wendy, I have a bad feeling about this…" The feline warned, but Wendy was already on her way, crawling past the leaves of the first rose and keeping low so the swaying flowers won't bump into her. So far so good, just a little more…

"Huh?" The girl looked back; the first rose had curled a root around her leg.

Then without warning, the second rose suddenly smashed its flower straight down on the Sky Dragon Slayer's back, crushing her against the ground. The girl shrieked in pain and tried to crawl out of the way as the stone flower lifted off her back, but her snagged foot kept her in place, and the weight came crashing back down all too fast, this time with a sickening crunch. The living sculpture smashed down again, and again, and again, until the girl lay still.

" _ **WENDY! !**_ "

"H-HUH?!"

Wendy spun around to look at her friend, both frozen in horror. It took a few seconds for Carla to realize the young Dragon Slayer was still there, crouched as if about to start crawling forward, if the feline hadn't just screamed bloody murder. That was… a vision from her clairvoyance? Oh thank heavens… W-Wait!

"Stop! Get away from there!"

"O-Okay!" Scared and confused, Wendy quickly complied and scrambled away from the sculptures. "What's wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost!"

"Worse, a vision… Of you getting crushed to death by one of those things…" The Exceed explained, eyes still wide in fear from what she saw, and soon Wendy had much the same haunted expression. "We should destroy these things, they're dangerous."

The Sky Dragon Slayer hesitated, looking at the giant swaying flowers with newfound fear, then shook her head. "Let's just find another way."

"What if there's no other way?"

"…Then we'll see if it comes to that. I just don't think destroying things here is a good idea…"

Carla shook her head and sighed. That child sometimes… "If you say so. Let's keep looking then."

* * *

"Beware of edges… The heck does that mean?" The Salamander stared confused at the sign before him.

"Exactly what it says I guess, but edges of what?" Lucy pondered as well, though she was more interested in the bug paintings on the side. The three of them had unlocked the blue door and entered the next room, a gallery hall painted entirely green instead of blue. The path was split into two, one straight ahead with a pillar and the sign standing in the middle, another to the side with lifelike paintings of various insects on the wall, almost like taxidermy samples.

Natsu tried to figure out what the warning's about for a few more seconds, then shrugged. "Eh, I bet it's nothing to worry about! I'm gonna go check up ahead!" He gestured down the hallway he's facing and Lucy gave him a nod of acknowledgement, so the young man casually strolled past the pillar and kept on going. A few steps down the hallway though…

"GAH!"

"NATSU?!" Hearing her friend's cry, Lucy (along with Happy) hurried around the corner to see what's happened and found Natsu backed up against one wall, glaring in shock at the disembodied arm poking out the opposite wall, seemingly made from shadows, its clawed hand thrashing about wildly before it settled back down. "W-What the hell is that?!" The blonde recoiled upon seeing the shadowy hand as well.

"I think that's a hand!" The flying cat tried to be helpful despite being just as surprised and scared.

"I know that, Happy! That's not what I- Wait, Natsu, are you hurt?"

"Nah, I'm fine." Natsu shook his head, having dodged out of the way in time thanks to his battle-trained reflexes and the hand's extremely limited range.

"That's a relief. So what happened?"

"I dunno, I was just walking along and then that thing popped out and tried to tear my throat out." He explained rather nonchalantly for someone who just narrowly escaped severe injury. The three continued to observe the disembodied appendage and gradually calmed down when they figured the thing couldn't hurt them as long as they stayed away.

"Huh… Maybe that's what the sign meant, the walls are the edges. There's probably more than one arm, so I wouldn't stick to that other wall neither if I were you." Lucy noted, and Natsu quickly moved back out of the hallway altogether, "That one doesn't look like it can reach very far, assuming they're all like that, if we stay along the middle we should be fine. Still, let's try the other way first…"

"Fine with that." "Y-Yeah, I don't wanna go anywhere near that thing…" The Salamander and his feline companion agreed, and the three went down the path with the insect paintings instead, still staying alert and a healthy distance from the walls just in case.

After the first four nameless paintings of random bugs, the fifth was a bit different and had a nameplate.

"Prologue…" Lucy read it aloud, looking at the strangely empty painting featuring only a small caterpillar hatching from an egg and a lot of blank space.

"What's with all the bugs?" Natsu raised an eyebrow.

"I dunno. I never even knew these paintings existed, they might be early experimental works that he never bothered to have displayed. Oh my god, I wonder how many works Guertena kept here that no one's ever seen before?" The thought of being in an exclusive viewing session of the famed artist's secret paintings brought stars to the girl's eyes.

"If even that guy himself didn't show 'em to anyone then they can't be _that_ interesting. I mean look at this, it's practically blank!"

"Well that's true, but looking through some of the random stuff he painted is still an experience! Might even let me learn things about him that no one else knows! Besides the fact he has an entire pocket dimension of living art of course!" Lucy shrugged, refusing to let her spirits be dampened, and the trio continued on.

The next few paintings were apparently continuations of Prologue; a fully grown caterpillar, a chrysalis, and a butterfly fluttering away, labeled 'Chapter One', 'Chapter Two', and 'Last Chapter' respectively.

"Aww, that's cute~" Lucy said with a smile, feeling a little warm and fuzzy inside. Her friends were evidently less impressed.

"Isn't that something a preschooler would draw for biology homework?" Happy creased his brow, not getting why a supposedly renowned artist would draw something so simple even he could do it, minus the details. The Celestial Spirit mage just ignored him and kept going, opening the door at the end of the path to reveal a really small corridor with another door on the other end, except there's a hole in the floor in the middle. The three stopped at the edge and carefully looked down into it.

"…Natsu, do you see anything in there? All I see is an endless abyss, it's like none of the light from up here even reaches the bottom…"

"Nope, absolutely nothing."

Deciding falling down the pit would be a bad idea, the three stepped back and jumped (or flew) over the gap one by one and continued on. The next room was a small one too, if bigger than the corridor they just went through, with a painting on the wall, and a headless black stone mannequin in a red dress and high heels at the end.

"Hey, I remember seeing one of those headless things in the gallery." Natsu noted, walking closer to it.

"Yeah, there were three of them together called Death of the Individual." Lucy nodded, "Their headlessness and matching clothes represent-"

"Save the art lesson for later, Lucy."

The art enthusiast pouted but shut up all the same, walking over to the painting while Natsu inspected the statue. "…Now it's not so cute…" She grimaced and shivered as she examined the painting labeled 'Epilogue': The same butterfly from 'Last Chapter', being devoured by a spider. "…Why do I feel a sense of foreboding?"

"Hey Lucy, check it out, it's a key!" Her companion called from behind her, crouching in front of the mannequin and picking something up. The key had been hard to notice since it was small, flat, and the same green color as the floor, but it couldn't escape the Dragon Slayer's keen senses. At the same time though, his feline friend also noticed something less pleasant.

"Uhh, guys? I think that statue just twitched…" A nervous Happy warned, staring warily at the headless mannequin. The two humans' eyes immediately darted to it too, but the statue was as still as it should be. Lucy wondered if the mannequin was actually alive and dangerous too, she wouldn't put it past this demented gallery after those shadow claws. On the other hand, both the roses and the hands came with warning signs, but there's no warning here-

Fairies caught in a spider's web.

"…I don't see anything. You sure it's not your imagination, Happy?"

"Umm, maybe-"

"NATSU, GET BACK!"

At the same time as Lucy yelled her warning and backed away from the statue herself, the 'spider' struck, lunging at the one in front of it with sharp fingernails. The 'butterfly' was ready for it though. Or so he thought.

" **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!** " The Salamander shouted as he threw a punch at the statue's torso. In the heat of the moment he forgot his flames had been sealed off, but the physical force alone should've been enough to shatter stone. Except it didn't. The attack was only enough to make the living mannequin stagger back with a cracking sound before it lunged again, this time swinging with a fist. Expecting the statue to have been in pieces already, Natsu was caught off guard and sent reeling back by a strike to the face.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried out as she watched her friend get punched hard and retrieved the Fleuve D'etoiles from her belt, summoning forth the whip of sparkling water. A split second before the statue swung again, the whip coiled around its winded arm and yanked, using the momentum of its own punch to make it miss and topple over.

"I'm fine! Nice one, Lucy!" The Salamander grinned and poised himself for combat while the statue slowly got to its feet, ready for a proper fist fight. "Alright you chunk of rock, let's-"

"Natsu, we have the key already! Let's just get outta here!" Happy suggested, but the glutton for battle wouldn't budge.

"No worries Happy, I can totally take this guy!"

"It's not whether you can, there's no point to it!" Lucy pointed out as well, eager to just get away from the possessed mannequin, "Save your strength for later, let's go!"

"You too? Oh fine, if you say so." Natsu finally relented, and the two humans (and cat) turned tail and sprinted for the door while the unnaturally strong mannequin screeched despite having no head and lumbered after them. Thankfully for all its strength and durability, the statue wasn't very fast, and the three were over the gap and back out to the main room before it even got to the door. Lucy slammed the door behind them and kept running, until a crashing sound from behind them gave them pause.

"What was that? …Did it fall in the hole?"

"Maybe? Guess it's not bottomless afterall."

"Hmm. Let's not go back and check…" The girl sighed with relief, then remembered the danger's far from over. "Alright, only one way to go now. Remember, stay away from the walls…"

"Got it." "Aye…"

* * *

"Is… Is this a clock?"

Wendy gazed up in wonder at the giant structure on the wall before her, fitted above a blank nameplate, a clocklike contraption surrounded by colorful designs of the sun and moon and other geometrical shapes, and two pendulums beneath. They were what tipped her off on what it was, because the clock was missing its face at the center, making it entirely useless.

"I think so, if a broken one." Carla examined the clock several times her and Wendy's sizes too, flying up to check the hole where the clock's face should be. She could see something inside, but didn't dare reach in unless necessary. "I'll admit it's impressive, but we've got no use for it. Let's keep going."

The two of them had gone past the killer flowers and took the stairs back down, which led them to the other side of the first floor which the giant slumbering serpent had blocked them off from previously. They'd be more nervous around the beast, but if it hadn't woken up from Carla's earlier scream it probably won't wake up as long as they keep their voices down. Besides several more paintings, they had come across two doors on either side of the clock.

Wendy nodded and headed for the left door first, opening it warily to find…

"…I-It's so dark in there…" The young girl shivered, looking into the pitch dark room. There's something unnatural about that darkness, almost as if it absorbed what light seeped in from the corridor.

"I can't see a thing in there neither. Let's try the other door." Carla suggested, and the two headed for the door on the right. To their relief, the room beyond was well lit, with stacks of sealed cardboard boxes scattered about. To the right, they could see the other end of the snake hanging out of another painting, as if the paintings were some kind of portal between the walls, as well as some yellow scrawlings on the wall.

"'My heart goes to art, my spirit goes to my creation'…" Wendy read the words aloud, "I wonder who wrote this…"

The Exceed didn't respond, but she was starting to get an idea on the answer and what this place was, as much as she still didn't want to believe it was possible.

Checking the left, they also found another interesting painting. It was of a gray flabby humanoid, a little unsettling in its color and proportions but not very noteworthy on its own, except for some reason the face of the being had been messily scrawled out by black paint, and the work was titled 'Mistake'.

"Mistake, huh. I wonder if it was drawn like this on purpose or if Guertena actually framed a failed painting." Carla furrowed her brow and shook her head. "Artists, an incomprehensible bunch…"

"I just think it's sad, being created only to be called a mistake…" The Sky Sorceress looked up at the painting with sympathy, even if the bloated figure was still unnerving.

"No mistakes, only happy little accidents?" Carla smirked a little, "Well, let's keep going before it jumps out of the canvas and tries to strangle us." She said, her smile fading as both she and Wendy hurried away from the painting. She had said it as a joke, but then quickly remembered it's an all too real possibility in this enchanted gallery.

The two continued further into the room to a short flight of stairs and a narrow corridor; a sign outside read 'Collection'. "Collection of what?" The Exceed pondered aloud, and her human companion shook her head to say she didn't know neither, so they simply kept going.

They got a hint soon after turning the corner.

*thunk* "KYAAHH!"

Wendy screamed and backpedaled, while Carla quickly spun around, more composed, but only because she didn't know what flew past her wings until she saw the giant needle as long as a knife embedded in the wall.

"T-That was close! You almost- AGH!"

"WENDY!" The Exceed immediately rushed over to the Sky Sorceress, who was wincing and reaching down to pull out the giant needle stuck in her thigh. Another needle shot from the wall and narrowly missed the feline's tail. "Damn this place! Wendy, can you-"

"I'm okay! Let's go, hurry!" Wendy yanked the needle out with a restrained cry of pain and ran ahead, followed by a frantic Carla. As they dashed along the twisting corridor, needles continued to shoot from the walls, but now the two of them were ready, ducking and weaving between the sharp projectiles, the Sky Sorceress even swatting a few out of the air. The further they went, the more needles they had to dodge, until they turned a third corner to find a large black rose sitting on the floor in front of them. At the same time, another needle fired from the wall straight at the flying cat, who had just turned the corner and only just registered the large pointy lance heading for her.

Instead of being nailed to the wall though, Carla found herself unharmed, and the needle nowhere to be seen, only some dust that smacked against her and fell away.

A split second before it struck, Wendy had accidentally kicked the black rose, scattering the petals and disintegrating the needles. No more shot out after them.

"…I think that stopped the needles." The sapphire-haired girl looked around warily to make sure, and breathed a sigh of relief once she was certain. "Phew, we made it! Carla, are you- Y-Your ear!"

"Yeah, one of them clipped me, but it's nothing serious." The Exceed replied, ignoring the stinging from the small bleeding hole at the edge of one triangular ear. "I'm more worried about your leg. How bad is it?"

"It hurts, but I can still walk and run just fine… Here, let me heal you first." Ignoring her own pain, Wendy beckoned, and Carla drew nearer so her friend could use her healing magic. The Sky Dragon Slayer placed a gentle hand on the injured ear and channeled her power, creating a soft blue glow from her palm. It continued for a few seconds, until Wendy made a horrifying discovery. "C-Carla? It's not working…"

"Huh?"

"I can channel my magic as usual, nothing feels wrong, but the wound's just not closing…" She explained with increasing dread. The Exceed wasn't happy with the news neither.

"Seriously? First Natsu and Lucy, now this, just what's going on in this place?" Carla grumbled and tried to think of an explanation. Wendy's magic itself isn't hindered, so in this case it shouldn't be the caster's problem but the one it's casted on. Were the needles enchanted to block healing, or was it something else this place did to her? …Wait. "Wendy, check our roses."

"Umm, okay?" The girl blinked in surprise at the unexpected request and unzipped the bag she'd been keeping Carla in before, now used to store the voodoo roses. To her horror and as Carla guessed, a petal had dropped from each of the flowers, leaving Wendy's with 7 and Carla's with 4.

"I figured as much…" The white cat looked at the roses grimly. "They're worse than voodoo dolls. Every time our own bodies get injured they'll lose a petal too, making the damage permanent, and if we get hit enough, even if it normally wouldn't be lethal…"

Wendy gulped.

"Let's be extra careful from now on." Carla sighed and stepped back from the bag. "What did we even go through that to get? It better have been worth it…"

Wendy zipped up the bag and looked around too. They've ended up in a small dead end chamber with very little to see; on one end was a painting of blue skies and clouds, on the other end a butterfly with wings of orange so vibrant it was almost like flickering flames. The insect was pinned to the wall by a needle in each wing, and the nameplate beneath read 'Imprisoned Flame'. Upon closer inspection, it was even still alive, fluttering weakly in futile attempts to free itself.

"Oh no, poor thing!" The Sky Sorceress gasped in horror and immediately (but carefully) pulled the pins out, releasing the fiery insect. While the young girl watched with joy as the freed butterfly flittered about and eventually landed on her head to rest, Carla happened to remember the 'Collection' sign outside. The grisly image of her and Wendy pinned to a wall like that butterfly by those giant needles flashed through her mind, and she quickly shook it away.

"Nothing else here, huh…" The Exceed looked around the small room once more and found little of interest, "I hope that butterfly does something… Let's go back."

"Alright~" Wendy said, in a particularly good mood after freeing the butterfly despite the multiple wounds on her body, and the two retraced their steps through the winding corridor, minus the needle barrage this time. Just as they exited back out into the rest of the room though, they heard the sound of glass shattering, and a certain fat gray humanoid with a scrawled-over face blundered into view. Carla was almost not surprised.

"…I hate this place so much."

* * *

 **Author's Note: I did say the updates were going to be slow, though even I didn't expect them to be quite this slow, sorry about that. Thank you very much for the encouraging reviews! I suppose I'll take this chance to answer a few curiosities.**

 **As I've said before, there are minor AU elements for the Ib storyline compared to canon, in that Ib and Gary escaped, but Mary wasn't burned. As far as I know that's not an impossibility, Mary's death isn't necessary for them to leave, so if Gary for one reason or another chose to ignore the vines and keep going, Mary can survive. Also as you can tell from this, the missing child and night guard aren't Ib and Gary since they already escaped. As for what happened to said child and night guard, all will be revealed in time. ;)**

 **Again, thank you for your support, and see you next chapter!**


	4. Truant Seconds Hand

"Why do I volunteer for things? Whhhyyyy?!"

"Why're you asking m-" Karate chop to the head. "Ow."

"That was a rhetorical question!" Lucy yelled and continued to cradle her poor 'abused' face. Having returned to the 'Beware of edges' hallway, she had in the spur of the moment volunteered to go first, so as not to have Natsu do everything after he got ambushed twice in a row. As she had expected, there were more disembodied hands lying in wait, but thanks to their limited reach they couldn't get her long as she stayed in the center of the path. Still, just because they couldn't reach her didn't mean them bursting out of the walls without warning didn't scare her, and when she reached the end and hands reached out from both walls at once, she reflexively dodged forward to get away, straight into one last hand that lashed out from the wall right in front of her. While she did manage to turn and dodge to the side, she still earned three more shallow cuts across her left cheek. "Why is everything going after my face?! This place must be jealous of my beauty!"

"You flatter yourself too much." Happy stated, making sure to treat the Princess' hands like the ones on the walls.

"Come on Lucy, no point crying about it. Wendy's the one who can fix you up, so let's keep going and find her already!" Natsu said as he fitted the green key into the door ahead. Grumbling to herself but unable to argue, Lucy followed her friends onwards, exiting the green room into a brown one. The first thing they saw was…

"Uhh… It's…"

"It's a cat!"

"I'm pretty sure that's a wall, Happy."

"It's both." Lucy summed up what stood before them. The entire back wall was shaped like a cat, complete with two eyes painted on. Where its nose should be though was a fish-shaped indentation. On the two side walls were doors leading elsewhere. "I feel like that indent there's for something…"

Happy raised his hand. "A fish?"

"Or something shaped like one. Maybe we'll find something in the side rooms." The blonde nodded, "Let's not split up, I feel like something bad's gonna be guarding that fish…"

"You're not the only one." Natsu agreed, and the trio headed for the left room first. The hall actually resembled a gallery, with eight rectangular pillars, each having what should be a painting on them, but the paintings were covered up by red curtains. All except for the one closest to the entrance, which had nothing but a stick figure on it.

Curious as to what the stick man was doing that, Lucy approached to inspect it, only to yelp and recoil as scrawled yellow text appeared beneath the figure just as she got close.

"Lucy, you okay?"

"Yeah, just more spooky writing…" She exhaled the shock away and read the words. "'Play hide and seek?'" She read aloud. Immediately, the stick figure vanished. Looking to the side, they found that all the curtains now had a yellow dot under them, like buttons. "…Guess we don't have a choice in the matter."

"Wait, we're actually doing this?" Happy asked.

"I feel like we need to. This whole place is designed like a game, remember? We'll have to play along to find the key and keep going. That stick man's got to be behind one of those curtains, just be careful when you open them."

"Right then! Let's go find that stick guy and make him give us the key!" The Salamander declared with enthusiasm at the prospect of a game and hurried off to start pushing buttons.

"W-Wait, I said be careful!" Lucy rushed after him along with Happy, but it was too late. Natsu picked a random button to press and the curtains opened, revealing-

"Huh?"

Behind the curtains was no stick figure. Rather it was a detailed painting of a woman.

Naked.

After a moment of gawking from the trio, the painted woman shrieked and reached right out of the canvas, slapping Natsu in the face before pulling the curtains back together.

The three took a moment to process what happened. Lucy rushed over to stop the young man from pushing the button again as soon as he saw that grin show up on his face. "Natsu, no!" She yanked him back from the curtains and sighed. "Let's try a different one… I'll press it this time."

With that said, Lucy walked over to the pillar on the left and carefully pressed the yellow dot, ready to dodge if something tries to reach out at her again. The curtains opened, and nothing tried to attack. The painting itself was disturbing enough.

Upon the canvas was Lucy herself, unconscious, bound in thorn-covered vines and bleeding from numerous lacerations. A knife was stabbed into her heart.

"W-What…" The depicted woman backed away from the painting, but her eyes refused to be peeled away from it. "That's… me? How?!"

"Beats me." Natsu shrugged and took a closer look at the unsettling painting. "…Yep, all the details are accurate, clothes, hairstyle, proportions, even that cut and the scratches on your face from earlier. Either Gartana could see the future or this was made really recently."

"…Let's just try a different one." Lucy shivered and finally managed to look away. The painting must've been enchanted to generate an ill omen of whoever pushed the button, just more magical mischief meant to spook her, nothing more, no sir…

"I'll go next!" The feline volunteered, and flew over to the pillar on the right of the naked woman this time, pushing the button. The curtains parted, revealing a picture of a crescent moon. A second later, the lights in the room dimmed and took on a blue tint. "Ooh, cool!"

Seeing nothing bad nor scary happened, Lucy allowed herself to relax a little. "That wasn't so bad. Maybe I was worried over nothing… That's three down, four more curtains to go."

"This is taking too long, let's all pick one and press at the same time!" An impatient Natsu suggested and immediately hurried over to the other row of pillars along with his feline friend.

"That doesn't sound like a good idea…" The girl hesitated, but chose a button anyway. This game of hide and seek hasn't been too malicious so far- Well that painting showing her stabbed to death was pretty mean, but it hasn't been outright dangerous. It's not like one of those paintings would explode on them, right? …Right?

"Alright, on three!" Natsu declared once everyone was in position, "One, two, three!"

Press.

"AHH!" "AHHHH GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!"

Both Natsu and Happy yelled out; only Lucy didn't respond until a second later.

"…Is it just me or did everything get quieter? Guys?" The oblivious princess blinked and looked away from the painting of a musical note with a black bar and the word 'OUT' on it, turning to check on her friends. "GUYS?!"

Both Lucy and Natsu rushed to the flailing Happy together to pry the red hand off of his face. Thankfully its grip wasn't too strong and the palm soon released its captive, retracting into the canvas and leaving the cat with a big red handprint on his face.

"Happy, are you okay?" Lucy asked, and the scared feline nodded. He also said something to her, but despite seeing his lips moving, she couldn't hear what he said. It was at that moment she realized she couldn't hear anything at all besides her own voice. "Oh no, I think something's wrong with my hearing, I can't hear what you're saying! Wait, Natsu, what about you? I saw that knife swinging at you!"

"Yeah I'm fine, like that'd hit me." The Salamander smirked, and upon realizing his friend's currently deaf and probably doesn't know how to lip-read, pointed at his own unscathed torso and gave her a thumbs up.

"That's good to know." The girl smiled back, and turned towards the final set of unopened curtains. "One left. I swear, if that guy's not there…" She grumbled as she walked up to the last button and pressed it. The curtains swung open, finally revealing the stick man behind them. "There you are! 'Found me, you get prize'. I knew it!" Lucy cheered after reading the text that popped up, then looked around for their 'prize'. "…Where's the prize? Natsu?" She asked, but her friend had walked off to the back of the room where a blue object now lay on the floor. It turned out to be a wooden statuette of a fish head, apparently fallen out of the large painting on the wall, depicting a cutting board and a chef's knife.

"Is this what we're looking for?"

"That should be half the key we need!" Lucy remarked, still mostly deaf, "Only half, I guess the other half's in the other room. Here, gimme it and let's keep going." She extended a hand to receive the fish head and moved to place it in her duffel bag, only to make a worrying discovery. "What the… Hey, Happy, could you check your rose and Natsu's?"

"Aye?" The flying cat set down his backpack and checked inside. Much like Lucy, his eyes widened. "Huh?! Natsu, look!"

The pink-haired boy walked over to see what's wrong. "Some petals fell off mine. …That's bad, right?"

Lucy checked as well, unable to hear her friends' reports. Happy's light blue rose was fine, but two petals had come loose from Natsu's pink one. "Two? But Happy's didn't lose any, and mine lost one. So they're not just withering with time? Then why…" The brains of the team furrowed her brow as she tried to understand the cause. "Pulling petals hurts us, but we didn't get new wounds when they fell off on their own. Unless… It works the other way around too?" The answer came to her, and her eyes gradually widened. "I got scratched by those claws, you were punched by the statue and slapped just now. This adds up, if our own bodies get hit our roses get damaged too! That's sneaky!"

"And if all the petals fall off, we die?"

"Yeah. Also she still can't hear you, Natsu."

"Dammit. Happy, pack up, we're getting outta here!"

"Aye sir!"

"Natsu? What are you- Hey!" Lucy yelped as she was dragged back to the cat room, though she blinked when she found her hearing returning upon passing through the doorway. "Oh, I can hear again!"

"That's great. So, summary, if we get hit by traps we lose petals, if we lose all petals we die, right?"

"Pretty much." She nodded, "Considering even that slap counted, your inhuman endurance won't be enough if you keep getting hit, so be more careful, okay?"

"Yeah yeah." Natsu crossed his arms, not really feeling the severity. "Anyway, we've still got half a fish to find, right?"

"Right. Let's go check that other room."

* * *

Wendy and Carla held their breaths as the 'Mistake' turned to face them, lumbering forward. The former was hesitant on what to do, but the latter expected the living painting to be hostile like the others, she just needed to spur her stronger friend into action. Just before she could tell Wendy to attack though, the bloated humanoid turned a corner and wandered off. What? Was it not interested in them? Or…

The cat furrowed her brow and motioned for the girl to follow, hurrying for the door. As soon as Wendy sprinted past though, the being spun around and started racing after her, until she bolted out the door and slammed it shut. Something slammed against the door on the other side, then started pounding against it, but fortunately for the two the gallery's architecture was sturdy enough.

"Not feeling so sorry for it now, huh?" Carla remarked; her friend said nothing, simply backing away from the shaking door. "I think that thing was blind, that's why it didn't attack until it heard footsteps. Hopefully we won't have to deal with it at all anymore, but just in case, keep that in mind. Now let's keep looking for a way out, I'm getting really sick of this place."

Wendy nodded, then hesitated. "But… where do we look now?"

"There's still that dark room over there, we'll need a light source though."

"Maybe there's one back in that room? There were a lot of boxes lying around."

"…I'd rather look elsewhere first."

Coming to an agreement on that, the Sky Sorceress and Exceed began to retrace their steps, going back upstairs. As luck would have it, they made the right choice.

"Ah?" Wendy blinked as the fiery butterfly left its perch on her head and flew ahead, straight into a painting of an unlit candle upstairs. The insect set itself atop the wick, becoming the 'flame' from which glowed a soothing light. "Whoah… Hey, I think that's our light source!"

"Good, that means we didn't go through those needles for nothing." The sourpuss remarked while the Sky Sorceress carefully removed the painting from the wall, "Let's go back to that dark room and see what we can find."

"Mmm!"

With a nod, Wendy led the way this time back to the other door and carefully opened it, peeking inside. It was still as pitch dark as before, until she entered the room with the painting; the glow managed to permeate the darkness, but only for a short distance. 'This is the perfect kind of place to prepare an ambush…' Carla thought to herself, but didn't voice it for fear of jinxing it. "Move slowly and keep your ears out." She advised instead, and after a nod from her friend, the two entered the room fully.

Even with the candle, it was only just enough for them to not bump into stuff, and there was a lot of stuff lying around, namely heavy cardboard boxes piled on top of each other. Most were sealed shut, though a few open ones revealed sets of drawing utensils. Despite the enchanted darkness and the pseudo-maze, it wasn't long before the two made their first discovery.

"…Nine?" Wendy whispered, looking at the propped up canvas with nothing but a purple number on it. "Is this important?"

"Maybe it's part of a code? We'll see if there's more." Carla responded, and the two continued their journey through the darkness. Sure enough, they soon found another canvas in a corner with a green '1', then a blue '2' further on. The third had been propped up against the back wall, and it wasn't the only thing in the vicinity. 'A Prelude to Wine', read the plate, and holding up the 'candle' revealed a painting of grapes. The Exceed flew up to inspect it for clues, and finding nothing, they resumed their search, working their way around the barricade of boxes to find another nameplate: 'Alarm for the Clock'. The light was held up once more, shining on, not another picture, but a switch instead. "For the clock… The giant one outside?" Carla surmised, and hoping she won't regret her decision, pulled the switch. There was a ding, but nothing more.

After waiting for a moment to make sure nothing else happened, they resumed their search, quickly locating a yellow '3'. Things were going well thus far, the Exceed thought to herself. No traps, no strange noises, no killer paintings, it's almost too good to be true. Then the light shone on a third nameplate.

'Malice's True Form'.

Wendy looked back at Carla, Carla shook her head slowly, and the two carefully backed away from the wall. They didn't need to risk waking it up, if it wasn't already stalking them in the shadows already. Hastening their steps, the duo hurried to the last corner of the room, locating a red '7'-

*crash* " _AAAUUUUU_ "

"Run!"

The Sky Sorceress didn't need to be told twice after hearing that bizarre howl and that glass-breaking sound from somewhere in the darkness. Within seconds, they were out in the lit hallway again, slamming the door shut behind them. "Phew… I was starting to think I got lost…" Wendy took some deep breaths to settle her pounding heart, thanking her lucky stars she found the door quickly. Carla meanwhile looked towards the giant clock. The clock's missing face has returned, along with its two hands, which were curled up for some reason. The nameplate had also magically been filled in now, 'Truant Seconds Hand', and a panel had appeared beneath for inserting numbers.

"5 digits, exactly what we found in there. The problem is the sequence…" The Exceed remarked as she took a closer look.

"How about 91237?"

"That's just the order we found them in, it might be wrong, and I don't want to risk putting in the wrong code." Carla shook her head, "Did we miss something somewhere? Maybe it was the colors? But that still doesn't explain the order… The clue better not be on Malice's True Form…"

The two thought for a minute, to no avail. "Mmm…" Wendy furrowed her brow, but her think pan came up with nothing. "Maybe we should go back to the tea room? I'm getting tired…"

"Might as well." Carla nodded and floated after her friend as they returned to the little side room. All these scares aren't doing their hearts any good, the smell of tea might help them relax at least. Once they've returned there, the two quickly sat themselves down against a wall and sighed, just shutting their eyes and resting for a moment. Huh, the smell of hot tea was actually helping a lot, the Exceed thought as she opened her eyes, looking towards the wall of paintings.

…Wait. The frames… Red, blue, yellow, purple, and the anthill they removed…

"…That's it!"

"Huh?!" The Sky Sorceress flinched, looking at her oddly excited companion.

"The code sequence! It's tied to the colors of the picture frames here! The code is 72391!"

Carla's joy quickly spread to Wendy, and the two raced back to the clock, bringing the candle painting along. With nervous anticipation, the mage typed in the sequence. Soon after, the sound of clockwork came from within the massive construct, and the pendulums began to swing. In a bizarre motion, the clock's hour and minute hands unfurled, pointing towards the moon pattern, which prompted the lights to dim and take on a bluish shade, imitating nighttime. As if sensing its purpose was fulfilled, the fiery butterfly fluttered back out from the candle painting, flying about freely.

"Yay! We did it!" Wendy cheered, watching her butterfly friend enjoy its freedom with a smile, though the Exceed didn't quite share her enthusiasm.

"Now the question is, what _did_ we do?" Carla pondered, soon coming to a hunch. After catching her friend's attention, the two returned upstairs once more to find her theory correct. "The flowers sleep at night. Now that they're down, we should be able to get past them safely." She said as she examined the now inanimate stone flowers, slumped over as if asleep. Just in case though, she snuck past the killer statues herself (and did so safely) before testing the door on the other end.

"Carla?"

"It's locked." The Exceed growled, returning to Wendy. Even after that, they're STILL not done with this area! "Looks like we'll have to find a key. Maybe something else's changed too, there's nothing left for us to do but look around again."

Wendy nervously nodded, and the two re-commenced their search. It only took a few seconds before the Sky Sorceress found their first clue. "Oh, it's Mr. Ant again!" She pointed at the small white dot of an insect that had returned to wandering around where they first found it. Compared to before, it was almost luminescent in the dimmed light, making it easier to spot. Before Carla could say anything, the girl had already stepped over and crouched down to talk with it again. "Hello again, Mr. Ant! Is something wrong?"

"I'm hungry. I want something to eat. Something sweet would be great." The chittery voice responded.

Carla was about to tell her friend to leave the bug alone, considering how helpful it was the last time they helped it, but thinking about it, the ant is the only lead they have right now. If this place works like she thinks it does, and it really is all a series of puzzles, then maybe she shouldn't be so quick to dismiss something as purposeless. Instead, she landed beside Wendy and looked at the little bug. "Hey. If we find you something to eat, can you help us? We're looking for a key." She requested.

The ant actually turned to regard her. "Yes, I know where key is. Trade sweets for key." It answered. Carla nodded.

"That settles it. I don't know where we're supposed to find sweets in this place, but I'm almost certain we can find some. Come on, Wendy, let's-"

The sound of a door opening and closing echoed through the otherwise quiet gallery.

Rigid and without speaking a word, Carla turned towards the nervous Wendy and put a finger over her lips. Wendy nodded, and the two began their search for candy, keeping silent as mice.

* * *

"…I don't like this place. I don't like this place at all." Lucy grumbled, sweeping a suspicious glare across the room filled with 'Death of the Individual' mannequins and identical large statues of heads. It was what they found in the room opposite of the hide-and-seek room, and where they're presumably supposed to look for the other half of the key.

Not feeling particularly enthusiastic about the sight neither after their prior experience with the mannequins, Natsu crossed his arms. "Me neither. So what are we supposed to do here?" He asked. Aside from the statues, there was no obvious puzzle or game in sight, other than boxes randomly littered about.

And then most of the already dim lights flickered and failed, leaving the room's contents barely visible.

"…Yeah I REALLY don't like this place." Lucy grumbled again, "I guess all we can do is search for the key the old-fashioned way. Keep an eye and ear on these statues too, there's no way at least one of them isn't coming alive to kill us."

Giving their affirmatives, the three proceeded deeper into the room, sticking relatively close together as they walked past two rows of creepy statues unmolested, though Lucy almost tripped over a large indentation in the ground (which she inspected but found nothing suspect about it), and finally spread out a little to start searching the boxes on the other end. Giving a backwards glance at the statues that continued to remain statues for the current moment, Lucy carefully opened one of the cardboard boxes to look inside and find nothing but stacks of brushes, palettes, and other tools of artistry. She almost wished they were faced with another deadly puzzle instead of this menial searching, at least a puzzle was kind of interesting…

"Happy, Lucy, you heard that?"

Natsu's sudden comment caused Lucy to flinch and immediately turn around, scanning the room again for signs of any works of art turning homicidal. She found nothing. "I didn't, and I don't see anything off." She responded.

Happy, who flew up into the air to provide recon, shook his head as well. "I might've heard something, but I definitely don't see anything."

Seeing nothing strange himself, Natsu made a noncommittal hum and returned to his search, as did the others. Maybe it was just from Lucy and Happy searching through their own boxes, but still, his senses were rarely wrong.

Then he heard it again, this time clear as day, the sound of something grating together. The others heard it as well this time, and all of them spun around to find one of the giant stone heads had begun to move, its expression changed to a menacing leer as it slid quickly across the floor straight towards Lucy. The girl screamed and barely had time to throw herself out of the way before the giant bust tripped over the dent in the floor and toppled over, the momentum of its movement sending the entire thing crashing into where Lucy was but a second ago.

"Lucy, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine! It's gonna take more than that to get me!" Lucy said despite her hammering heart. Having narrowly avoided getting crushed, the Princess let Natsu help her back on her feet, quickly scanned the room for anymore kamikaze statues, and finally examined the wreckage. It turned out the heads were hollow, and this one had shattered upon impact; among the fragments lay the wooden statuette of a fish tail.

Gingerly, Lucy retrieved her prize for survival.

"That's the other half of the key, now let's get out of here!"

"Sounds good to me!" "Aye!"

Without wasting a second, the trio hurried back out the way they came, returning to the better lit room in the middle and closing the door behind them. Breathing a sigh of relief, Lucy pieced the fish-shaped key together and cautiously set it into the indentation on the cat-shaped wall.

Immediately the room shook, and the eyes of the cat-wall turned red with a distorted meow. The three quickly backpedaled away while the middle of the wall sunk into the ground, accompanied by a chain of additional meows, finally revealing a path forward.

"I didn't think I'd ever find a cat so creepy…" Happy remarked nervously, a little shaken by the loud distorted meows.

"Yeah, that was… weird." Lucy nodded as well, not expecting that to happen. "Oh well, at least we're making progress! At this rate, we might even make it out of here alive!" She chuckled, though her mirth quickly died down again. "Heheh, yeah… I hope Wendy and Carla are doing alright, wherever they are right now."

"Wendy's a Dragon Slayer, it'll take more than a spooky gallery to kill her!" Natsu assured her with a confident grin and a thumbs up, and the girl couldn't help but find herself feeling better as well.

"Yeah, you're right. Alright, onward!"

* * *

As the ant returned from its burrow with an orange key, Carla had to admit that for all her naïve blunders so far, Wendy's intuition for how the gallery works could be pretty on point. It was by searching the whole floor again thoroughly that they had found the painting of a starry night sky near where they found the butterfly, a painting Carla was sure hadn't been there before, but she never would have considered that the painting was relevant to their quest just by the fact the stars had the same white luminescence as the ant, then proceeded to shake said painting until one of the stars fell out, and then taken it to the ant which accepted it as a sweet. Perhaps there was just something about the logic of this place that resonated with a young and innocent mind.

Either way, she wasn't about to question it too much. The Exceed accepted the key and, after Wendy thanked 'Mr. Ant' and whispered her goodbyes (being careful to not attract the attention of the Mistake, which was still wandering the halls downstairs), the two returned to the door past the killer stone flowers and successfully unlocked it.

On the other side was a small room, a big painting in the middle with two stairways upwards on either side. The painting depicted a beautiful blue-haired lady dancing in a ballroom, surrounded by watching guests. The lady almost resembled Wendy… or rather, the older, more mature Wendy from Edolas. As the two observed it, the painting suddenly began to animate, the woman finishing her dance with a twirl and a flourish, and the guests began applauding.

LOUDLY.

They could hear something stomping its way up from downstairs. Immediately, the two crossed over entirely and shut the door, a click signifying that it had locked itself. The Mistake won't be opening this one any time soon.

"Even the celebration's a trap…" Carla muttered, glaring at the painting that had gone back to being inanimate.

Wendy patted her friend on the head, calming her down. "Don't be like that, maybe the gallery's just trying to be nice?" She suggested with a little smile, innocent as always. "At least we're out of there now! I'm sure we don't have much further to go."

"I sure hope so." The Exceed sighed. The area they just went through was pretty big, and whoever made this place did put a congratulatory surprise at the end of it. She wasn't normally one to get her hopes up, but she wanted to believe that the worst was behind them, and at the very least, maybe they'll reunite with the others soon.

After catching a breather, the two made their way up the stairs, then down a different flight. The orange floor and walls turned to dark turquoise, until they ended up in another short hallway, with only a purple sculpture of a misshapen woman contorted in a circle (which both agreed wordlessly to stay away from), and a message scribbled on a wall in fresh, runny paint.

'Drown in the abyss…'

Wendy shivered, and Carla decided not to dignify that ominous message with a remark. Somehow she's starting to believe the worst is not, in fact, behind them.

Then they turned a corner and opened the next door.

They stared at the massive sculpture in the center of the grand hall, depicting a beautiful princess embracing a skeletal king, both emerging from a tilted canvas on the ground; the clothing was made from real fabric, the princess looked perfectly life-like, and the skeleton, somehow, seemed made of real bone. Even Carla had to admit she was genuinely impressed by the artistry, even as she prayed the skeletal king won't start swinging around that big golden sword of his.

To the pair's right was another astonishing sculpture, this time of a large tilted glass cup filled with a starry blue liquid that spilled _upwards_ , forming a puddle of moonlit night sky before dripping back down to the floor. Despite the fact it should be a sculpture, the fluids looked liquid and merely frozen in time.

To the pair's left was… what looked like a giant lump of smooth clay. Huh.

And behind the princess and skeletal king, was a huge blank canvas that covered the entire back wall.

Then Carla saw all the doors leading out from the grand chamber.

"…It's so… Huh? Carla, are you okay? You're starting to twitch…"

"… _I hate this place. SO._ _ **MUCH.**_ "

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

WELP. Nearly two years without updating this fic. I didn't want to leave it unfinished, but since I've started having trouble keeping even my main fic updated on time, seeing how little viewership this little side project had I had little choice but to set it aside. I just remembered I still had half of this chapter written here for like over a year though, and decided to just finish and post it. When's the next chapter coming out after this? I don't know. I can't really promise there will even be another chapter. But I will try, that much I will say.

Thanks for the few follows and favorites that guilt-tripped me into finishing the chapter. Please comment if you're still interested, it's a great motivator for me. Until next time, hopefully.


End file.
